Austria · Leithaberg

Weingut Heidi Schröck & Söhne

A 10-hectare family estate in Rust, Burgenland, where Heidi Schröck and her sons Georg and Johannes make dry Weissburgunder alongside Ruster Ausbruch.

The producer

Heidi Schröck took over the family winery in Rust in 1983, continuing a winegrowing line that reaches back three centuries. The estate’s south-facing vineyards form an amphitheatre beside Lake Neusiedl, and its 10 hectares are worked by hand. Rust supplies the setting for dry Weissburgunder as well as the town’s historic sweet-wine tradition, Ruster Ausbruch.

Weissburgunder is the clearest dry-white thread. The 2025 combines fermentation in large wood and stainless steel, then spends four months on fine lees. Across vintages, the grape moves from shell and quince in 2022 to fennel, anise and ginger in 2024, with the 2023 showing structure suited to ageing.

Known for

Dry Weissburgunder from Rust, alongside Ruster Ausbruch.

Notable facts

The story

Falstaff’s 2003 Vintner of the Year

In 2003, Falstaff named Heidi Schröck Vintner of the Year. She had taken over the family winery in Rust two decades earlier, in 1983, and was working within a family winegrowing history that reaches back three centuries. The distinction placed her among the relatively few women to receive Falstaff’s Vintner of the Year award. The winery remains in Rust at Rathausplatz 8, with Heidi now joined by her sons Georg and Johannes in the family team.

From the atlas

Weingut Heidi Schröck & Söhne

At A Glance

Weingut Heidi Schröck & Söhne is a 10-hectare family estate in Rust, Burgenland, beside Lake Neusiedl. Heidi Schröck works with her sons Georg and Johannes, making dry Weissburgunder alongside wines connected to Rust’s historic sweet-wine tradition, Ruster Ausbruch.

The Producer

Heidi Schröck took over the family winery in 1983, bringing her own work to a winegrowing lineage that reaches back three centuries. The estate remains based at Rathausplatz 8 in Rust, where Heidi, Georg and Johannes work with hand-tended vineyards and an old cellar. That family scale keeps the connection between a named site, a grape and a bottle close: Weissburgunder can be read through Rust rather than through a broad regional blend of claims.

Place

Rust sits in Burgenland, roughly five miles from the Hungarian border, on the edge of Lake Neusiedl. The family’s vineyards form a south-facing amphitheatre around the town. Exposure to the south and the lake-side setting place the vines in a warm, open landscape; on a Weissburgunder label, Rust is the setting behind ripe quince notes while the wine still carries enough structure for ageing.

Soil And Site

Kulm is identified as the estate’s oldest site. Three of Heidi Schröck’s great-aunts planted it in 1955 on sand over clay, a combination that gives the vineyard a physical family history as well as a ground profile. The sandy upper layer and clay beneath it matter because vine roots meet two different textures in one site; Kulm is therefore more than a family name in the range, but a place where soil and planting date stay attached to the wine.

Story

The present estate began its current chapter when Heidi took over in 1983. Rust had already been home to generations of family winegrowers, but Heidi’s work turned that inheritance into a working winery with dry whites, named vineyard material and a continuing interest in Ruster Ausbruch. Her sons Georg and Johannes are now part of the team, so the family line is not treated as distant history: it runs from the 1955 Kulm planting through to wines made from the estate’s 10 hectares.

Vineyards And Cellar

The family describes vineyard work as manual, a practical fit for a small estate with old family sites around Rust. In the cellar, the 2025 Weissburgunder was fermented in both large wood and stainless steel, then spent four months on fine lees. Using two vessels keeps the wine from reading as only woody or only steel-bright, while lees contact supports a broader texture. The result is a dry white whose fruit and spice can sit on a palate with weight rather than disappearing after the first citrus-like lift.

Wines

The range has two useful poles. Weissburgunder is the central dry-white thread, with vintages showing how one grape can shift across years without losing its place in Rust. The 2022 is associated with shell and quince, while the 2024 moves toward fennel, anise and ginger; both descriptions point to a white with savoury and spice notes alongside fruit rather than simple floral perfume.

Ruster Ausbruch forms the other pole. This is Rust’s historic sweet-wine tradition, and Heidi Schröck has long worked to revive it after its disappearance following phylloxera. Dry Weissburgunder and sweet Ausbruch therefore show two different uses of the same town: one follows dry acidity, texture and spice; the other follows the local sweet-wine history.

In The Glass

Across the Weissburgunder vintages, start with the nose before looking for a fixed house flavour. The 2022 brings shell and quince, suggesting a dry, savoury-fruited profile rather than overt tropical fruit. The 2024 adds fennel, anise and ginger, so the aroma moves from orchard fruit toward herbal spice. On the palate, the 2023 is documented as structured with ageing potential; that structure is the useful cue to look for beneath the aroma, carrying fruit and spice through a dry finish instead of leaving them as fleeting scents.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Weissburgunder 2025. It is a dry Weissburgunder made with fermentation split between large wood and stainless steel, followed by four months on fine lees. That method provides a concrete way into the wine: expect fruit and freshness from the stainless-steel portion, more texture from the lees, and a measured wood influence rather than an oak-heavy style. It also opens the door to the estate’s other Weissburgunder vintages, where shell, quince, fennel, anise and ginger show how the grape changes from year to year in Rust.

Anecdote

Three of Heidi Schröck’s great-aunts planted the Kulm vineyard in 1955. It lies in sand over clay above Rust and is identified as the estate’s oldest site. The vines were planted 28 years before Heidi took over the family winery in 1983. Kulm remains within the 10 hectares farmed by Heidi, Georg and Johannes. Its name brings together a date, three relatives, a soil profile and a vineyard still worked manually from the family’s base at Rathausplatz 8 in Rust.

Final Word

Heidi Schröck & Söhne is best approached through Rust in the glass: dry Weissburgunder with quince, shell and spice on one side, and Ruster Ausbruch on the other. The 2025 Weissburgunder puts the estate’s family sites, two-vessel cellar work and dry-white character in one bottle.

Sources

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